1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to nanoscale particles. It relates particularly to a process for fabricating hollow metal nanostructures, or metal nanoshells, employing ferritin as a bio-template.
2. Description of Related Art
A great interest currently exists in the synthesis and characterization of hollow metal nanostructures, because of their surface properties and catalytic activities, which are different from their solid counterparts. Most early work in this field involved hollow nanostructures of several hundreds of nanometers. Recently, the preparation of hollow nanostructures on the scale of tens of nanometers was demonstrated, employing a replacement reaction with a solid silver template and a nonoscale Kirkendall effect, respectively. However, such a fabrication process is very complicated, and requires the use of organic solvents. Moreover, it has been found generally difficult to form stable hollow metal nanoparticles, and even solid metal nanoparticles, because of strong magnetic interactions in magnetic particle systems.